Block (NYSE:SQ) Price Target Raised to $98.00

Block (NYSE:SQ) had its target price hoisted by Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft from $90.00 to $98.00 in a research report released on Friday morning, Marketbeat reports. They currently have a buy rating on the technology company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on SQ. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Block from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an underweight rating and issued a $60.00 price objective (down previously from $62.00) on shares of Block in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Wolfe Research increased their target price on Block from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Benchmark restated a buy rating and set a $99.00 price target on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Susquehanna reiterated a positive rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Block has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $87.33.

Block Price Performance

SQ stock opened at $68.74 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.64. Block has a 1 year low of $38.85 and a 1 year high of $87.52. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $66.30 and a 200 day moving average of $70.77. The company has a market cap of $42.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 89.27, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 2.52.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The technology company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $5.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.75 billion. Block had a net margin of 2.18% and a return on equity of 2.04%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Block will post 1.28 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 5,155 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total transaction of $367,345.30. Following the sale, the insider now owns 599,150 shares in the company, valued at $42,695,429. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Block news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,788 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total value of $483,712.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 282,886 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,158,456.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 5,155 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total transaction of $367,345.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 599,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,695,429. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 135,673 shares of company stock worth $9,188,222. Insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Block by 9.3% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 7,637 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $338,000 after acquiring an additional 652 shares during the period. Wesbanco Bank Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Block in the 3rd quarter valued at about $225,000. Headinvest LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block in the third quarter valued at about $44,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Block by 1.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,915,658 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,545,367,000 after buying an additional 585,801 shares during the period. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS grew its holdings in shares of Block by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 93,155 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,206,000 after buying an additional 1,005 shares in the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Block

Square, Inc provides payment and point-of-sale solutions in the United States and internationally. The company's commerce ecosystem includes point-of-sale software and hardware that enables sellers to turn mobile and computing devices into payment and point-of-sale solutions. It offers hardware products, including Magstripe reader, which enables swiped transactions of magnetic stripe cards; Contactless and chip reader that accepts EMV® chip cards and Near Field Communication payments; Chip card reader, which accepts EMV® chip cards and enables swiped transactions of magnetic stripe cards; Square Stand, which enables an iPad to be used as a payment terminal or full point of sale solution; and Square Register that combines its hardware, point-of-sale software, and payments technology, as well as managed payments solutions.